


Sarah vs the Wedding Cake

by Just_here_for_a_laugh



Series: Wonderful Week of Women [1]
Category: Chuck (TV)
Genre: Anxious Sarah Walker, Awesome Ellie Bartowski, Bonding, Cake tasting, Family Bonding, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Kinda, Mild Angst, One Shot, Sisterly bonding, Stressed Sarah Walker, Walker Bartowski wedding, Wedding Jitters, Wedding Planning, even spies can get stressed out, women bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:20:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24670714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_here_for_a_laugh/pseuds/Just_here_for_a_laugh
Summary: Sarah Walker has taken on coup d'etats, rogue spies, black site interrogations, and countless other deadly and terrifying obstacles, but now she has to take on the one mission she's least of all prepared for: wedding planning.Sarah and Ellie go cake tasting and it stirs up more anxiety in the level headed spy than she'd care to admit
Relationships: Sarah Walker & Ellie Bartowski Woodcomb, Sarah Walker/Chuck Bartowski (background)
Series: Wonderful Week of Women [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1783783
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	Sarah vs the Wedding Cake

Ellie was going through the day’s plan from the passenger seat and commenting on how this and that had gone in her own wedding planning, but Sarah wasn’t listening. Staring dead ahead and gripping the wheel a little harder than was strictly necessary, the spy was running through how to disassemble and reassemble her gun in her head, training her breathing and focus to the familiar and repetitive process in an effort to calm down. This shouldn’t be hard, she told herself. She was a spy. She could outrun splinter group terrorists and scale a building without a harness. She could lie her way from a ballroom floor to an attic safe, and then right back out the front door. She could face anything life threw at her; a wedding cake tasting should not be intimidating.

  
She kept driving, nodding occasionally and laughing when Ellie did to hide her distraction, but the closer they got to their destination the more the small flames of her anxiety licked at the corners of her mind. The exercises were helping, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was doing something wrong, that she wasn’t cut out for this. Ellie had said that once she had her “moment” as the young doctor had called it, and finally got excited about the wedding that things would fall into place, but they hadn’t. Standing on that platform in Castle, looking at herself in that long white gown, Sarah had really had her moment. The reality had hit her and she honestly felt like a bride. It was exactly how Ellie had said it would be, and after it she really was excited, but her excitement hadn’t made the wedding planning any less threatening. She wanted to enjoy herself and to get lost in the process, but she just couldn’t, and every time that Ellie or Chuck or even Morgan (who was honestly almost as driven as Ellie in this process) mentioned flowers or invitations or music she felt the urge to bolt. Her doubts ate at her each time, asking her if she was truly bride material, or was she just playing in a doomed attempt at a life she could never really have?

  
“Oh right here, turn here,” Ellie interjected, pulling Sarah from her own mind and back into the present moment. As they pulled into the parking lot of the bakery Ellie was nearly radiant with excitement. “Ooh I can’t wait!” she grinned, “Come on, this’ll be fun!” Sarah returned the grin with her best cover skills and took a deep breath as her future sister in law got out of the car. Steeling her nerves, she stepped out and walked with Ellie into the shop.

  
It was a quaint little bakery with a cozy atmosphere and delicious smells swirling around the two women. The small seating area was empty and the only sound in the quiet space was the light clinking of dishes coming from what Sarah imagined was the kitchen. Ellie called out to someone named Leena before turning again to Sarah.

  
“This is where we got our cake and Leena is just the best. You’re gonna love her,” she whispered and then shifted back towards the kitchen door as a woman in a light apron came out to greet them. The two hugged and exchanged cheerful hellos before the woman called Leena turned with a warm smile to focus on Sarah. Ellie grinned. “Leena, this is Sarah, my future sister in law! Sarah, this is Leena, the best wedding cake baker in Burbank.” Leena laughed.

  
“Well I’m not so sure about that, but I do my best. Hi, it’s nice to meet you” she said with a smile that not only danced across her face but wrapped around her posture and sparkled in her eyes.

  
“Hello,” Sarah shook her hand, trying to return the smile but worried that hers was much more card board. She was genuinely pleased to meet someone so bright and lovely, and she did her best to focus on that instead of anything else playing through her mind. The three sat down and chatted briefly before getting down to the business at hand.

  
“Alright,” Leena said, “so Ellie told me a bit about you and what your existing plans are for the wedding, but I’d like to ask you some things to get your first hand perspective.”

  
“Um, okay,” Sarah said pleasantly though somewhat unsure, “what did you have in mind?”

  
“Okay so Ellie said there are no allergies we need to worry about, but are there any flavors or icings or anything like that that you just definitely don’t like and want to rule out right off the bat?”

  
“Oh,” Sarah responded. She laughed nervously, “I, um, I’m not really sure.” She had been on countless missions with countless parties that had had all sorts of hordevours and desserts, many of which had been cakes, but she couldn’t think of anything that stuck out as particularly unpleasant. “Is there anything you don’t like, Ellie?” she asked, “I mean your opinion should matter here too, I’d hate for you to not be able to enjoy the cake.” Ellie laughed,

  
“Well that’s really sweet Sarah, but seriously remember that this is whatever you want alright? Your decisions trump mine.” She smiled expectantly and Sarah nodded. “That being said, I’m not a huge fan carrot cake, so if you aren’t heavily considering it maybe we could strike that one from the list.” Sarah had no idea what she was heavily considering or not, but she couldn’t say she preferred carrot cake over any other kind so she felt relieved that this seemed to be a decision she could easily make.

  
“Alright then, I can do that,” she agreed with a small smile. Glancing to both women at the table with her she broadened her smile and nodded definitively, ‘No carrot cake.” Leena grinned and made a note, brushing her curly dark hair out of her eyes as she looked down.

  
“No carrot, fantastic.” She looked back up at Sarah. “Now, moving to the flip side of things, do you have any favorites?” Once again Sarah was coming up blank. She had spent plenty of time eating delicacies and confections that most people could only dream of, but she had never really had the presence of mind to enjoy them. Most of the time that she was sampling expensive handcrafted sweets she was thinking about how to lift a security badge or take out a guard instead of how the flavor of the lemon zest in the batter paired with the buttermilk used in the frosting or whether a raspberry filling added to the chocolate or just made the dessert too heavy. She hesitated for a moment before deflecting the question.

  
“Uh, well, what would you recommend?” she asked Leena. The baker raised an eyebrow, apparently amused. Sarah glanced around the table and offered up an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, I'm not much help here am I?”

  
“That’s alright,” Ellie assured her, “there’s no need to have a favorite right now, we can just find one.”

  
“Exactly,” Leena agreed, “I have a ton of samples whipped up in the back, we’ll figure it out. Tell you what, how about for right now we move on to aesthetics instead of taste and then come back to this after?”

  
“Okay,” Sarah said with no small amount of relief, “yeah that sounds good.”

  
“Perfect,” Leena said, “Let’s talk about design. Did you want a traditional cake or cupcakes arranged on tiers?”

  
“Oh, um, wow, I didn’t even know that was an option,” Sarah replied, looking to Ellie.

  
“One of the nurses at work did cupcakes,” Ellie offered, sensing that Sarah was a bit out of her dept. She hoped that having some context would help the spy make a decision. “They were stacked up on tiers and then trailed in a spiral around the base. It was very pretty. Here,” she suggested, focus now on Leena, “let’s get some pictures so she can see what different designs look like.” Leena got up and fetched a photo album from on top of one of the cabinets. She brought it back and laid it down in front of the bride.

  
“Here, these are all of different cakes that I’ve done and then some that I’ve seen or that my friends in the business have made. We’ve got cupcakes, traditional, custom design, frosting, fondant, square sections, round sections, lifted tiers, combination…” As Leena listed off kinds of shapes and styles that Sarah had never even heard of and flipped through page after page of cakes all different from the last, the trepidation she had been feeling in the car magnified steadily. She jumped slightly as Ellie put a hand on her own, looking up to see the comforting face her future sister was making. She tried to smile back a thanks, but as grateful as she was that she had someone who took the time to notice her distress and cared, the seemingly unending options were becoming overwhelming. She kept watching in awe and nodding dumbly as Leena continued to show her cake after cake. “And don’t worry about anything like color,” Leena assured her, “we can change anything you see here to match your theme.”

  
“My, uh my theme?” she responded weakly. Leena nodded.

  
“Oh yeah, whatever colors you want. White is obviously traditional but there’s no rule that says your cake has got to be white. I did a hot pink cake for a bride once, even used food coloring in the batter to make the cake itself pink. And then of course you can do a white cake with colored accents like flowers or piping, anything you want. I can make it match your wedding colors exactly or we can pick some that complement them, everything is up to you. Do you know your colors yet?”

  
Sarah looked at Leena’s expectant face. She opened her mouth to answer but nothing came out. She had no idea. She had no idea about any of this, cupcakes or squares or wedding colors or fondant; it was all so much. She was drowning. She stood up suddenly, almost knocking her chair over and surprising everyone at the table including herself.

  
“Excuse me a moment,” she said before dashing to the back of the room and down a narrow hallway towards the restroom. Startled, Leena turned to Ellie who was watching the bride’s takeoff. Ellie glanced at her and waved her hand dismissively.

  
“Uh, spastic colon,” she explained hurrilied, “totally normal, I’m gonna, uh, just, don’t worry, stay here,” she said before taking off herself. Leena nodded, confused and not entirely believing Ellie but not about to pry into things that weren’t her business.

  
Ellie jogged up to her panicked friend and stopped a few feet away from where she was leaning against the wall, wanting to give Sarah some space to breathe. “Hey,” she said tentatively, “you okay?” Sarah looked at her and groaned.

  
“I’m sorry Ellie. I know this isnt-”

  
“Hey, hey, no,” Ellie cut her off, “you have nothing to apologize for. This is your process. Whatever makes you happy.”

  
“But that’s the problem,” Sarah sighed, “I don’t know what makes me happy. All these choices and all this wedding stuff, it’s just so much. And I know I should be enjoying it and I know I should be happy but it’s just so hard. I thought that after I had my moment and I found the dress and I finally felt excited about the wedding that all this would get easier.” She looked up at Ellie, dejected. “Maybe I’m not cut out to be a bride.”

  
“Oh, Sarah,” Ellie sighed as she wrapped her in a hug, “That’s alright, weddings are a lot to take in, there’s nothing wrong with feeling overwhelmed.” Sarah hugged her back, and had she been in a different headspace she would have marveled at how she had actually done so out of genuine comfort and instinct instead of reflexive spy cover-protection. She sniffled slightly, trying not to cry.

  
“But the moment, it didn’t work.” Ellie smiled and shook her head against Sarah’s shoulder.

  
“Did it make you excited to have this wedding and get married?” She felt Sarah nod an affirmation into her shoulder. “Then it did work. Look at me,” she said as she pulled back and held Sarah by the shoulders. “That is what is important. That is what matters here. And this?” she said, gesturing to the bakery around them, “this stuff is just the details. The wedding is still months away, we have plenty of time. We’ll take it one step at a time, and I’ll be here with you the whole way.” Sarah’s expression was a complex combination of sadness, relief, and gratitude as she wiped away a tear that had been threatening to escape.

  
“I don’t even have a favorite cake,” she said with a small laugh still tinted with discouragement. Ellie grinned,

  
“Then we’ll find you one. And a favorite flower, and a favorite font for wedding invitations,” she told her, finally making Sarah laugh without any lingering sadness. Sighing gladly in relief, she continued. “So you aren’t like some other brides, big deal. They aren’t like you. They can’t save the world with a BuyMore sound system or stop a bombing in five inch heels or absolutely kill me at Scrabble.” They were both laughing now, with Ellie beaming and Sarah taking reprieve in her warmth. Ellie gently brushed Sarah’s hair out of her face and gently smiled. “I know that it’s not legally on paper yet, but you are a Bartowski, and as far as I’m concerned you have been for years. And Bartowski's stand and face whatever challenges we’re in, even when we’re scared, because no matter what we know we have each other.” She watched as Sarah smiled and wiped away another tear. “So, let’s go out there and do this the Bartowski way: together.” Sarah’s smile widened and she repeated after her sister.

  
“Together.”

  
The two ladies walked back to the table where Leena was waiting. Sarah paused for just a second when she saw nearly a dozen samples laid out, but she took a breath and kept going. She felt a proud hand on her shoulder as she moved to sit down and her confidence took a small boost. Leena smiled at them and this time Sarah was able to genuinely smile back.  
“I took the liberty of getting some samples out for you, but if you don’t want to do the tasting right now we can look at something else, like maybe toppers?” Leena offered. The toppers did sound easier, Sarah thought, after all she did definitely know what she and Chuck looked like, but she took a moment to find her determination and shook her head.

  
“No, this will be great, thank you Leena,” she smiled. Leena beamed and so did Ellie.

  
“Fantastic. Okay, how about we start with this one: it’s a light vanilla base with a buttercream whip…” Leena continued describing the cake but Sarah’s focus was elsewhere. She looked around her at the quaint shop and the cheerful women next to her, sunlight pouring in and wonderful smelling cake all around, and she couldn’t help but grin. The process was still nerve wracking and there were still going to be points along the way that she knew she would find overwhelming, but she could do this, one step at a time, one yes or no to each bite of cake and one yes or no to each song on a playlist, because no matter what ridiculous five-tiered-ribbon-wrapped-champagne-glittered wedding drama came her way, she had a family now, and she would never have to face any of it alone.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this! This is the first installment of my Wonderful Week of Women series where I write only women for a week. I do not own Chuck nor anything associated with it. Happy reading!


End file.
